The Z Notation

Abstract

The Z notation (pronounced as zed, named after the German mathematician Ernst Zermelo) originated at the Oxford University Computing Laboratory, UK and has evolved over the last decade into a conceptually clear and mathematically well-defined specification language. The mathematical bases for Z notation are ZF set theory and the classical two-valued predicate logic. An interesting feature of the Z specification language is the schema notation. Using schemas, one can develop modular specifications in Z and compose them using schema calculus.